Rodgers claims Suarez understands Liverpool’s position

There has hardly been a minutes of respite in the endless barrage of transfer speculation surrounding Liverpool’s 26-year-old Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez, this summer.

There has hardly been a minutes of respite in the endless barrage of transfer speculation surrounding Liverpool[2]’s 26-year-old Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez[3], this summer.

With the player being linked with moves to Arsenal[4], Real Madrid[5] and other clubs around Europe, Liverpool continue to stand their ground that they are not willing to listen to offers for their star striker at the moment.

Despite rumors that Suarez is set to hand in a transfer request, there has been no such talk of an event and pictures of the forward in training with the Reds’ first team continue to show him to appear in good spirits.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo this afternoon, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers[6] discussed the current media frenzy in regards to his star central attacker:

"It's a story that can keep running but for me there is no new news. Luis is happy. He totally understands the club's point of view. He's in a difficult position in terms of not being able to play because of his suspension - he will sit out the first six games and he will miss playing football."

Suarez currently is only four games into a suspension from play in any English Football Association event due to an incident between Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic and the Uruguayan’s incisors.

Although Rodgers has agreed that the time spend off of the pitch due to his suspension and all the transfer speculation could potentially be detrimental to the player’s progression in preseason and regular season training, the manager insists that Suarez is in a great state of mind:

"He's working hard and remains part of the group. He hasn't been moping about.

It's obviously difficult when you come back after a break but he has settled in and has been working well. He needs to get up to speed and we will continue to work to get all the players ready for the first game of the season."

Suarez’s suspension happened just a month from the end of the season and is likely to have cost him the Premier League Golden boot as he finished with 23 goals in 33 matches while Manchester United forward Robin Van Persie managed to raise his total to 26 before the end of the campaign.